Police want to put in a web program called Leads Online into every pawn shop to track the items brought in. The money to start the program is already in the 2015 approved police department budget, okayed by the council last week.

Under the current system, police go to every pawn shop and pick up a written out list of inventory, but they said that system doesn't always work.

Eric Stroh has managed Missoula Gold and Silver Exchange for 24 years. He sees more signs of theft now than he did 10 years ago.

"We're seeing a lot more come, and when we talked to the police about it, they're telling us that they just don't have enough people working on it," said Stroh.

Stroh believes a nationwide web program will speed up the police's process of finding thieves -- but it will double his workload.

"It's going to cause us more work because, traditionally, we take care of stuff on paper. So we're going to put it on paper and then have to put it in manually into the computer, so it's another step of work for us, basically," said Stroh.

Other cities have already started to use web-based tracking program. In February, Kalispell police told us they implemented and paid for the program in 2012. It gives them to access pawn shop records at anytime.

Despite the initial extra work, pawn shop managers expect the program to be worth in it the long run.

"I do see that putting it in the computer right away will maybe trigger something to where we and the officers can find out who is actually pawning stolen property and then help them track it down and catch people a lot sooner," said Stroh.

Police and pawn shop workers should be trained on the program and know more about how well it will work within the next couple months.

We took a closer look at the price tag. The total cost would be $6,600.

Copyright 2014 by KECI, KCFW, KTVM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Comments

You share in the NBC Montana.com community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Please email wmiller@keci.com if a comment violates these standards. Due to a technical change, all comments posted before Jan. 9, 2014 no longer appear on NBCMontana.com. Comments posted after Jan. 14 are not impacted. We apologize for any inconvenience. The views expressed are not those of NBCMontana.com, NBCMontana or its affiliated companies. This is a community moderated forum. (Please note the 'Like' and 'Report' buttons.) By posting your comments you agree to accept our terms of use.